Bionic "Deliverance" CD
[Thorp]
Not bad. Another foray into rock 'n' roll from the usually hardcore/punk Throp label, here from this Canadian act that takes the straight up rock formula and throws in some slightly more angular twists along with occasionally overt melody and vocals that shift from ripping shouts/yells to fairly clean singing most of the time. They start to lose me with some of the calmer aspects, as pieces of the lighter riffing and singing in "Nobody to Blame" ain't really working for me, though by contrast some of that melody is a nice kick in the ass for catchiness. On the other hand, "Shake It, Annie, Shake It!" has much more melody and much cleaner singing, and makes for what is by far one of the most memorable (and borderline upbeat) tracks herein. It's funny, I thought some of the more melodic stuff on this disc sounded like the Doughboys because I've been listening to them a lot lately, but the overall character of the disc is very not Doughboys-ish. But I read the band's bio (which I almost never do) only to find that their vocalist, Jonathan Cummins, was in the fuckin' Doughboys. Go figure. "Disarm" is one of the catchier yet somewhat heavier and more energetic pieces, "Ballad of the Electric Brains" is somewhat similar in overall aesthetic, while opener "Turn You Out" is a quick rager that's a little more aggressive and traditional than most of the other songs. Closer "Do it Now" drags on for more than 11 minutes with some noisier guitar textures and a good level of midpaced repetition, which sort of kills it a little, but it's the last track so screw it. I don't have any real quarrels with the recording, it can be slightly muddy at times, but the tones are all pretty good and I like how the vocals are mixed tightly against the music. For the most part it sounds pretty damn good. I definitely like most of the guitar tones (some of them get a little beefier than average, which is nice), the bass thickens it up well, and so on. The layout's not bad. The photography's nice and crisp, the text is simple and clean, etc. No lyrics are included, just a high contrast spread of the band's practice space, a few band photos, etc. So there's not a great deal to look at, but I guess they're more concerned with rockin', so... fair trade, I guess. This is pretty good. A little long and a little inconsistent for me to follow it 100% from start to finish (things kind of start off quirkier and then get way more melodic), but overall coming off sort of like a new school take on total rock ala AC/DC meets The Hellacopters or something along those lines. I definitely think the songwriting gets pretty slick, and there are some really catchy tunes here. Good work. I'm not bowled over, but I do want to hear more. (6/10)
Running time - 51:04, Tracks: 12
[Notable tracks: Turn You Out, Shake It, Annie, Shake It!, Disarm, Ballad of the Electric Brains]
Thorp Records - http://www.thorprecords.com

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